Tamil Nadu - Chennai

High Court orders notice to Chief Secretary on petition filed by suspended employee

CHENNAI: Justice V. Ramasubramanian of the Madras High Court has ordered notice of motion to the Chief Secretary, returnable in two weeks, on a petition filed by a suspended employee of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC).

The petitioner has challenged the acceptance of the findings of the Justice P.Shanmugham Commission of Inquiry and sought to forbear authorities from commencing and/or continuing any departmental or criminal action against him pursuant to a G.O.

The Commission of Inquiry went into the alleged leakage of a telephonic conversation between the then Chief Secretary, L.K.Tripathi, and Additional Director-General of Police, DVAC, S.K.Upadhyay, to an English daily.

In his petition, A.Shankar, Special Assistant, DVAC, under suspension, submitted that the Tamil Nadu government issued a G.O. in September last year accepting the findings of the Commission of Inquiry.

The Commission recommended that a criminal case and departmental proceedings may be initiated against him. He alone had been chosen for both criminal and departmental action. Acceptance of the recommendation suffered from malice in law. He said only when the conversation between the Chief Secretary and the police officer was official, there could be a recommendation to take criminal or departmental action against the officials of the department. Accepting the recommendations of the Commission against the petitioner suffered from arbitrariness and unfairness, he said.

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